John Saunders reports: Nikita Vitiugov, from St Petersburg in Russia, won the Tradewise Gibraltar Masters title at the Caleta Hotel on Thursday after a pulsating play-off final against three times winner and reigning Masters champion Nigel Short of England. Four players – the above two, plus Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and Chanda Sandipan of India – tied for first place on 8/10, necessitating a knock-out play-off to decide the winner of the £20,000 first prize.

Vachier-Lagrave

The play-off consisted of two rapidplay semi-finals, played at the rate of 15 minutes plus ten seconds a move, with Short beating Vachier-Lagrave and Vitiugov beating Sandipan over two games. The semi-finals were one-way traffic for the most part but the final match between Vitiugov and Short was a thriller. The Russian, who was to turn 26 four days after the tournament, showed amazing coolness under pressure as he played out most of a 104-move game with only seconds available for each move, before finding a clever tactical trick to finish the game. In the second game Vitugov kept his opponent at bay for a draw which clinched the match 1½-½.

Sandipan vs Vitiugov

Rapidplay is best enjoyed in real time. Of course, the games were recorded via electronic boards and filmed on video cameras and can be played through later like a classical game, but nothing beats watching them at the time. In fact, the online spectator gets the best deal. I was lucky to be at the ringside but unlucky to be short of stature so struggled to see over the taller people in the room. No matter: my laptop was only a few metres away in the press room so, after taking a few pictures, I nipped back to my desk and watched the games there whilst listening to Simon Williams and Irina Krush commentating as the moves came thick and fast.

“IT’S A GAME OF FOOTBALL OUT THERE”

Game one of the rapidplay final was truly amazing. If you didn’t see it as it happened, bad luck... but all is not lost: you can still sample some of the excitement by watching the video commentary which is still available at the official website. You can gauge the tension from Simon Williams’s reactions. Simon doesn’t pretend to be unbiased: he’s an Englishman so he was unashamedly rooting for his fellow countryman, but in a comical and self-deprecating way. The words “Come on, Nigel!” are never far from his lips. I particularly loved it when Simon told us “it’s like a football match here” – a refreshing change from football commentators who make foolish analogies between their petulant ball-kicking, injury-simulating nonsense of a sport and our vastly superior game.

Vachier-Lagrave vs Short

Game one started by veering slightly in favour of Short, playing the black side of a Nimzo-Indian Defence, and Vitiugov started using up significantly more time. The English GMs in the commentary room felt Vitiugov was drifting, and cheered when Short played ...g5 but a few moves later Vitiugov’s queen drifted across to a3 and the audience groaned as they realised Short was losing a pawn to a trick. “This has gone White’s way,” admitted Simon, but he soon recovered himself and was intoning his perennial “come on, Nigel” mantra.

Vitiugov went out on a limb with his clock and his queen. It was remarkable brinkmanship, going three minutes down on the clock and putting his queen out of play but somehow he held it together, won a pawn and established a stable advantage.

FRANTIC FINISH

It wasn’t over yet as Short managed to mix things up as his opponent’s time ran down to just the ten-second increment with a queen and minor piece endgame on the board. Vitiugov was reduced to boosting his time allowance with queen checks and twofold repetitions.

Was there a threefold repetition in there? The answer later transpired to be ‘yes’. It occurred after White’s (and indeed Black’s) 69th, 71st and 73rd moves. I was following intently but I confess I didn’t spot these during the game. But Nigel did – watch the video and you can see him looking round meaningfully at the arbiter and quietly uttering the word ‘draw’ as Vitiugov played Qh5+ check for the first time and he replied Ke7.

THE ICEMAN COMETH

Nigel Short

But nothing happened. Vitiugov played a 74th move and Nigel replied. The moment had passed. (We’ll return to this further down.) Vitiugov played on, often with only his ten-second increment, and eventually won the game. Not to mention a new fan: by the end commentator Simon Williams was lauding Vitiugov’s amazing endgame technique and coolness under pressure. Simon was fair-minded and gave credit where credit was due, dubbing the St Petersburg grandmaster “the Iceman” – a very apt nickname.

Gibraltar Masters Play-Off Final, Game 1Vitiugov - Short

Black to Play

This position arose after an astonishing 102 moves, with both players eventually reduced to only 10-15 seconds for each move. Short, playing Black, had missed a clear drawing chance the move before (101...Ke7-e8! instead of 101...Ke7-d6?) and here he might have prolonged the game and, with a bit of luck, saved it had he played 102...Bxh3 103 Qxh3 Qe1+, etc, but instead he made it easy for White with 102...Be4. White replied 103 f5+, discovering a check against the black king and shielding the h-pawn from an attack on the h7 square. There followed 103...Kc6 104 Qc3+, covering the h8 square, whereupon Black resigned since he can no longer prevent the advance of the h-pawn to queen in two more moves.

TO THREE OR NOT TO THREE – THAT IS THE QUESTION

What of those threefold repetitions? Nobody seems absolutely certain how the law stands. Simon and Irina can be heard on the video remarking that Short couldn’t claim a threefold repetition at a rapidplay time control. Nigel himself came into the press room after game one of the final and asked me whether he could have claimed. Slightly flustered that I had been put on the spot (I have no arbiting qualification), I had to admit that I wasn’t sure about the rule and told him that I hadn’t personally spotted a repetition (I now know I was wrong on the latter point).

Could Nigel have claimed? A little while later a qualified arbiter who was not officiating in that capacity at the congress told me he saw no reason why Short shouldn’t have pressed a claim, though I’m not entirely sure I understand under which law. The rules for quickplay finish have provision for a draw claim in the case of someone making no effort to win by normal means, but this was not a quickplay finish – it was quickplay from the start.

Law nine, governing draws, talks in terms of players writing draw claims on score sheets – inapplicable in the circumstances of a rapidplay game. In this respect the rules have failed to keep up with the times and don’t meet the requirements of high-profile competitions. This game was played with highly sophisticated technology being deployed to record the moves via the board and video cameras – and, of course, had a large sum of money riding on it, not to mention a vast watching audience online, with the reasonable expectation of having a game that would not be interrupted by player claims or arbiter interventions. As they say in tennis, “play must be continuous” and if chess is ever to attract a TV audience, it needs to strive for the same thing.

In these circumstances there are three interested parties: the two players and the audience. The audience wants to see a game played in accordance with the normal rules of chess (as far as possible), with no interruptions. The players probably want much the same thing, plus the certainty of knowing when a game is drawn or not without having to think about when to claim, or rely on the speed of vision or chessplaying ability of an arbiter.

The non-applicability of the normal threefold repetition rule in electronically recorded rapidplay chess seems positively prehistoric. Without it, a player can seemingly go on repeating (and gaining ten-second bonuses) as long as they feel like it, or at least until an arbiter feels constrained to step in... and do what, exactly? As things stand, it is not clear (a) how many times a player can repeat until the opponent can claim he is making no effort; (b) on what basis the arbiter makes a ruling; and (c) whether any existing law of chess is applicable at all.

Perhaps the most ludicrous thing of all is that the technology to solve the problem has been around for years, and is used in online chess. Software already exists on chess servers to identify a threefold repetition and offer a player the option to claim a draw. It would surely only be a simple matter to adapt this software and make it available on a watching official’s computer so that the computer can flag instantly when a threefold repetition has occurred (or indeed 50 moves without pawn move or capture elapsed). A law for a blitz or rapidplay game played with suitable technology could then be introduced to allow an arbiter to declare the game a draw at the point when the repetition occurs. Nice and simple – everyone, including the arbiter, knows exactly where they stand, and nobody has to make Solomon-like decisions.

Apologies for the long digression but it seems high time that this lack of legal clarity is addressed by FIDE. Let’s be clear, I’m not laying any blame at the door of the Gibraltar arbiters or organisers. It is the FIDE laws themselves which appear to be inadequate.

THE DENOUEMENT

That still left a second game to play. One had to feel for Nigel as the drama of the first game was probably still on his mind, and he didn’t get the best of openings. He went a pawn down but, typically, fought back with all guns blazing, eventually going ahead on material. But it was an opposite-coloured bishop ending and Vitiugov held fairly comfortably.

THE WINNER

Rd10: Vitiugov vs Vachier-Lagrave

I must emphasise that none of my commentary on the rapidplay play-off is intended to detract from the achievement of Nikita Vitiugov. Far from it: he led from the front and thoroughly deserved his success for his cool temperament and impressive chess technique. The Tradewise Gibraltar Masters is now one of the richest and most prestigious events on the chess circuit and, by winning it, we can probably state that he has ‘arrived’. Of course, he has previously held a 2700 rating but winning this calibre of tournament gets a player noticed. He joins the ranks of Short, Ivanchuk, Adams, Nakamura, Svidler, etc, who have won the tournament in recent years and can perhaps expect to receive invitations to other major tournaments on the strength of it.

ROUND TEN

I mustn’t forget the last round classical chess. Rapidplay shoot-outs tend to overshadow the rounds that precede them, but round ten was actually quite special. The overnight leaders all drew despite some enterprising play. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave’s courage in unfurling a weird new move on move three has to be applauded: 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 f3 e6!?. Admit it: had an unknown opponent played that against you in a tournament, you’d have marked him down as a rabbit for weakening his dark squares, wouldn’t you? There followed 4 e4 d5 5 e5 Nh5, and it still looks a bit beginner-ish. But we had previously sampled some of Maxime’s sense of humour in the ‘Battle of the Sexes’ chess match so maybe it was a bit more of his Gallic wit. A sort of chessplaying Fernandel. (Not heard of him? Ask your grandfather or ‘wiki’ him.) His position didn’t look too great in the middlegame but then Vitiugov let it slip and was even lucky to draw.

Rd10: Navara vs Short

Nigel Short was held to a draw by David Navara of the Czech Republic in a game which included some intriguing tactical tricks from both players but which ultimately fizzled out.

This left it open for several other players to tie for first. One succeeded in doing so: Sandipan capitalised on some inaccurate opening play by Le Quang Liem and despatched him with aplomb. Michael Adams tried hard to join the other four on eight points. Had Adams won, he would have displaced Short from the play-off quartet on TPR but he was held at bay by Kiril Georgiev.

Rd10: Zhao-Xue vs Ivanchuk

Zhao-Xue

Top ranked Vassily Ivanchuk also had a chance of joining the group on the top score of 8/10 but he was held to a commendable draw by Chinese woman player Zhao Xue. This was doubly important for 27-year-old Zhao Xue as it secured for her the £12,000 women’s prize ahead of a stellar field of women players. Like Vitiugov, she was a most deserving winner of the big prize after an excellent tournament, and a worthy successor to fellow countrywoman Hou Yifan in 2012.

EPILOGUE

Another fantastic tournament was topped off with a gala dinner at the Caleta Hotel attended by many of Gibraltar’s leading politicians and business people. Chess has a very high profile in Gibraltar these days, thanks to Brian Callaghan and his team. I hope you all enjoyed reading the reports – more fun next year.

John Saunders reports: At long last we have a sole leader. Nikita Vitiugov outplayed Kiril Georgiev in a long technical struggle in which the Russian was a pawn up and eventually snared his opponent in some endgame tactics. He leads with 6½/7, ahead of Le Quang Liem, Gata Kamsky and the resurgent Nigel Short, who scored his fifth successive win.

The game between Ivanchuk and Le Quang Liem caused some controversy but was quickly resolved to the satisfaction of all parties. The players agreed a draw after 14 moves and left the playing area. However, there is a tournament bye-law (i.e. not a FIDE law) which prohibits draws in fewer than 30 moves, so the initial decision was that the players should return to play a new game which complied with the rule. However, after discussions with the players, it was felt that the players had been given incomplete notice of the local rule and that the result should stand.

Ivanchuk

Though Chucky had no interesting moves to show us in the tournament room, he was sufficiently mollified to agree to give a master class later the same evening. His stories and expressive gestures kept the audience spellbound. The video of this master class, like all the others, is still available for viewing at the website.

GATA AND NIGEL GET GOING

Two rivals from way back were hacking their way through the pack. Gata Kamsky beat the Venezuelan GM Iturrizaga, generally outplaying him towards the end of the game. Nigel Short gained a measure of revenge for his earlier humbling at the hands of one Spanish IM by beating another, 23-year-old David Lariño Nieto, who won the 2008 Spanish Championship. Instead of the patriotic English opening, Nigel opted for “singeing the King of Spain’s beard” with the Spanish national opening. Sir Francis Drake couldn’t have done it better.

For some bizarre reason, White’s odd configuration of pawns and pieces around the axis of d2-d4 reminds me of a hanukkah candle, though the bishop on a4 slightly spoils the effect. 13...Bg7 14 h3 Nd7 15 Bd1 Even more hanukkah-ish. 15...Qb6 16 Na3 0‑0 17 Rb1 f5?! This looks suspicious as White is able to open up the a2-g8 diagonal to his advantage and the kingside looks vulnerable. 18exf5 gxf5 19 c5! A pawn sacrifice, which Black doesn’t accept, but the open lines gained would have been worth it. 19...dxc5 20 bxc5 Qd8 Probably better than 20...Qxc5 21 Bb3+ Kh8 22 Nc4 Nb6 23 Ne5 when White dominates the position and gets ready for a final attack. 21Qb4 21Nc4 is also very good, as in the previous note. 21...b6 22 cxb6 axb6 23 Bf3 Bb7 24 Nc4 24Bxc6 Bxc6 25 Qc4+ Kh8 26 Qxc6 is also possible but Short prefers to keep more pieces on the board. 24...Kh8 25 Nd6 25Qe7 is also very strong, setting up the threat of Nd6 and Nf7+. If, for example, 25...Qxe7 26 Rxe7 Rad8 27 Nxb6 regaining the pawn and maintaining the attacking momentum. 25...Ba6 26 Bxc6 Rb8 27 Re8 Qc7 27...Rxe8 allows 28 Nf7+, winning the queen. 28Rxb8 28Nf7+ Kg8 29 Rxf8+ and, for example, 29...Bxf8 30 Qb3! and White is having all the fun. 28...Nxb8 29 Bb5 Bxb5 30 Nxb5 Qf7 31 Qb3 Qg6 32 Ba3 Rg8 33 Qd5 Bf6 34 Bd6 Qg3 Black has more or less given up and is trying a last throw. 34...Qg7 35 Be5 Bxe5 36 fxe5 and White will soon be a safe two pawns up, if not more. 35Bxb8 Qxd3 35...Rxb8 allows the fork 36 Qd6. 36Rb3 1‑0

John Saunders reports: The story as we left it... Le Quang Liem of Vietnam and Nikita Vitiugov were the last remaining players on a 100% score, so were fated to meet in the sixth round. It was a keenly contested encounter, with Le Quang Liem pressing for a win, first with an extra pawn and later, more improbably, with rook and knight against rook. Of course it was a draw, opening up the possibility of them being joined in the lead by others.

The next two boards promised much, indeed delivered much (in terms of entertaining chess) but failed to produce a decisive result. Vassily Ivanchuk and Vladislav Tkachiev, both on 4½/5, drew a tough game where the naturalised Frenchman held a pawn advantage for much of the game but was unable to capitalise on it in the face of some stout play from the mercurial Ukrainian, who managed to reach an opposite-coloured bishop endgame which meandered on unproductively for some time before Tkachiev decided enough was enough.

Vitiugov

David Navara let a pawn go for some active piece play against Gawain Jones. This was good enough to get him upgraded from a pawn deficit to a pawn advantage but Jones obtained two good bishops in exchange. A very interesting knight versus bishop but, again, a draw resulted.

I’VE GOT YU, BABE

We’ve seen a lot of wins from the Carlsen generation in this tournament but the older players can still play a bit and hit back with a vengeance in this round, as amply demonstrated by two-times Gibraltar winner Kiril Georgiev, from Bulgaria, who caught Yu Yangyi in a deadly snare. This win took Georgiev into a three-way tie for the lead on 5½/6. Once again, the run-up to the time control was crucial and this is when the Chinese teenager cracked under pressure and lost. (This reporter is desperately hoping Yu makes a speedy return to the leader board as he has stockpiled several more ‘Yu’ puns to deploy in future reports.)

K.Georgiev

Gibraltar Masters 2013, Round 6K.Georgiev (2643) - Yu Yangyi (2688)

Your computer will blithely tell you that this position is level but what it omits to say is that is extremely difficult for a human to figure out the complications... 40...Rd8? The one and only defensive move is 40...Re8! and it still needs to be followed up with rigid accuracy: 41 d7 Rxe1+! 42 Qxe1 Qa8! and now Black is through to calmer waters. But the business of finding three ‘only moves’ in a row would tax even a strong GM. 41Qh6! Re8 Black probably thought he was getting out from under here but the Bulgarian veteran has a killer move on the way... 42Qh7+ Kf6 43 Qe7+!! The only move to win. 43...Rxe7 44 dxe7 1‑0 There is nothing to be done about the pawn queening.

OH MICKEY, YOU’RE SO FINE

I hesitate slightly to include Mickey Adams amongst the ‘oldies but goldies’ who beat up younger players in this round as he still looks absurdly young to my eyes, but the fact remains he also has passed the age of 40. Mickey is renowned for his calm positional style of play but he is as aggressive and attacking as the next man when the situation demands it. Nana Dzagnidze was unlucky enough to find him in a more overtly violent frame of mind this round. That said, he followed up his piece sacrifice by tying up Nana Dzagnidze’s pieces in knots in typical Mickey fashion, rather than doing anything so vulgar as delivering checkmate. A very stylish game by the English number one.

Nigel Short’s reaction to his second round defeat has been impressive. Four straight wins! His sixth round game bore testament to the former world championship runner-up’s grit and determination. Facing a tough Polish GM who had matched him blow for blow, he dreamt up a tremendous bishop for two pawns sacrifice that your analysis engine of choice will disdain – wrongly. This is practical, risk-taking tournament chess at its finest, with a player stamping his will on the game in order to gain the desired result.

As we moved into week two of the Gibraltar Chess Festival the weather has continued to get better and better and many chess players have taken the opportunity to walk on the beach, pop into town or visit the tourist sites and of course visit the famous Rock Apes on the Upper Rock.

It was top of the Rock for Stuart Conquest, tournament director, who accompanied a large group who visited the Rock Apes and like many others before were totally mesmerised by them. The group included Irina Krush, Zhao Xue, Zhou Yang-Fan,Yu Yangyi, Jovana Vojinovic, Valentina Gunina, Peter Doggers and David Alberto.

Zhou Yang-Fan and Yu Yangyi

Jovana Vojinovic and Valentina Gunina

Irina Krush and Zhao Xue

The group also visited St Michael’s Cave, a network of limestone caves located in the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, one of the most popular attractions on the Rock. A natural phenomenon it has thousands of visitors a year wandering through its huge cavern.

In the hotel there is always some chess happening as can be seen in the picture with Tania Sachdev and Elisabeth Paehtz.

Gibraltar’s Governor Sir Adrian Johns has always been a great supporter of the Tradewise Chess Festival so it was not surprising to see him back in the eleventh edition of the tournament. He made the first move in the first round of the Challengers and Amateurs tournaments.

Shown round the hall by director Stuart Conquest and organiser Brian Callaghan, Sir Adrian got the chance to see both the Amateurs and the Challengers as they made their first moves. He welcomed everyone to this year’s festival and wished them well.

Looking back on last year’s tenth anniversary of the Gibraltar Festival, he was delighted it had been “a great Masters”, and proven a huge success.

“The festival clearly has a huge attraction, and I suppose capacity is the only thing that will maybe make it peak, but that might be a good thing because it then becomes very elite and very special,” he said.

The Tradewise Chess Festival was important for a number of reasons: “It is so good for Gibraltar and puts Gibraltar on the chess map.”

Gibraltars Governor Visits Amateurs and Challengers

Commenting on the many stories in the press about how the festival is getting bigger and better making it one of the most prestigious festivals in the world, he added: “Is that not fantastic for a small place like Gibraltar that a huge festival like this can take place here. There is also the influence on other people, like our young players, for example Stephen Whatley and others. Stuart Conquest’s appointment as the first professional chess person on the Rock who will go into schools and get young people to play is just a great initiative. So it is great for Gibraltar and great for the people here.”

At the end of his visit James Humphreys from Tradewise, the festivals main sponsor, presented the Governor with a First Day Cover of the chess stamps issued last year for the 10th anniversary edition of the Tradewise Chess Festival.

John Saunders reports: Yes, I’m messing with your brain again. In the film there were three amigos. At the end of round four of the Gibraltar Masters, played at the Caleta Hotel, there were four young men, aged between 18 and 25, in the lead. Chess is increasingly a young person’s game. By the end of play the four leaders with a 4/4 maximum score were Eduardo Iturrizaga from Venezuela, Le Quang Liem of Vietnam, Nikita Vitiugov of Russia and Dariusz Swiercz of Poland. The group of seventeen players on 3½ included Vassily Ivanchuk and Gata Kamsky who have recovered from their slow starts.

Antonaneta Stefanova

Dariusz Swiercz, aged 18, from Poland, produced the surprise of the round with his defeat of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France. But perhaps we should not be too surprised as Dariusz is already rated 2627 and won the 2011 World Junior Championship in India. He and the French GM (also a former winner of the World Junior title, incidentally) went toe to toe in a complex game of fighting chess.

Material is level but the position is wide open and very imbalanced. 24Rhe1! Very enterprising. 24 Bc4? runs into big trouble after 24...Rxc4! 25 bxc4 Nc3+!! and Black wins. 24 Bd3 is possible, however. 24...Rxc2 Black is brave and takes the bait but 24...f6 is a more cautious move and probably better. 25Bf3! 25Rxd4 Rxe2 26 Rxe2 exd4 27 Qxd4 works out about equal, but White wants more from the position. As played, White is threatening the knight on d5, and to play Rxd4 followed by Qxc2, so Black has to take drastic action. 25...Nc3+!? The only move to carry the fight to the white king. 26bxc3 Rxc3 26...bxc3 27 Rxd4 and Black’s various tries don’t work, e.g. 27...Qa3 28 Kxc2 Qa2+ 29 Kd3 Qd2+ 30 Kc4 and the king is safe despite its apparent exposure in the middle of the board. 27Qd5! White is a piece up and wants a queen exchange. In avoiding it, Black has to retreat. 27 Nxc3 bxc3 forces 28 Rxd4 when 28...Qa3!? leads to murky complications. 27...Qc7 28 Nxc3 Safer than previously as Black doesn’t have the Qa3 possibility. 28...bxc3 29 Rxd4! White needs to be rid of the powerful knight on d4. 29...exd4 30 g6 d3 31 Qxd3 Analysis engines might want to play something bizarre like 31 Bh5 in this position but most humans would prefer not to take chances with connected passed pawns bearing down on their monarch. 31...Rxb3+ 32 Kc1 Rb8 33 Bd5 Qa5 Now White can force the rooks off and use his extra piece to win the endgame. 34gxf7+ Kf8 35 Re8+ Rxe8 36 fxe8Q+ Kxe8 37 Qe4+ Kd8 38 Kc2 Qa3 39 Qh4+ Ke8 40 Bc6+ Kf7 41 Bd5+ Ke8 42 Qe1+ Kd8 43 Qe6 Qb2+ 44 Kd3 Qxh2 45 Qg8+ Kc7 46 Qxg7+ Kd6 47 Bg2 A useful move to hinder the black queen. 47...Qh4 48 f6 Qe1 49 Qf8+ Kd7 50 Bh3+ Kc6 51 Qc8+ 1‑0

Le Quang Liem, with his previous successes in the big Aeroflot and Moscow tournaments, is one of the most successful open tournament players in the world, and the Gibraltar Masters title would be a big feather in his cap. In the fourth round he came up against Iván Salgado López of Spain and won with smooth positional chess, capitalising on his opponent’s entombed bishop.

23-year-old Eduardo Iturrizaga is Venezuela’s first and as yet only GM, who first served notice of his strength when he defeated Sergei Tiviakov in the first round of the 2009 FIDE World Cup. He outplayed former women’s prize winner Nana Dzagnidze but still the position was not entirely clear when Nana made an error at the end.

Nikita Vitiugov comes from St Petersburg, where he was born in 1987 when it was still in the Soviet Union. Like Le Quang Liem, he is something of an open tournament specialist and he tied for first with the Vietnamese super-GM at the 2011 Aeroflot Open. He beat the Estonian GM Kaido Kulaots.

ROUND FIVE

V IS FOR VENEZUELA VIETNAM

How many countries in the world can you name with names beginning with “V”? I’ve given a clue to two of them in the title. If you’re good at this sort of trivia question, you might also come up with Vanuatu and Vatican City. Sadly, we have no representatives in the tournament from the latter two states (maybe next year), but we do have two extremely strong players from Venezuela and Vietnam, both of whom started the fifth round on 4/4.

Venezuela’s Eduardo Iturrizaga might have been better in the early part of the game against Vietnam’s Le Quang Liem. As so often, the fateful move was made right before the time control and the killer move was a Zwischenzug, or intermezzo move, depending on your preference for chess jargon.

The game between 100-percenters was won by Nikita Vitiugov of Russia in what was quite a smooth positional style against the teenage Polish GM Dariusz Swiercz. It was a good demonstration of the quiet but venomous strength of the English Opening.

White has restored material equality and can now look forward to a considerable positional advantage, with the bishop occupying the c6 square and cutting off the a7 rook from its kingside colleagues. 22...Qd6 23 Qc5 Qxc5 24 Rxc5 a4 25 Rb4 Nd7 26 Rc1 Ne5 27 Bxa4 Rf8 28 Rxd4 Rfa8 29 Bd1 Rxa3 30 f4 Ra2 31 Be1 Ra1 32 Rd8+ Rxd8 33 Rxa1 Nd7 Black has done quite well to reactivate his position but he is still a pawn down. 34Ra6 Nb6 35 Ba5 Ra8 35...Rd6 is better but it still looks grim for Black. 36Rxa8+ Nxa8 37 Ba4 Kf7 37...Nb6 38 Bxb6 cxb6 39 Kf2 leads to a probably lost bishop and pawns endgame. 38Kf2 Ke7 39 e4 Kd6 40 Bb4+ 40d4 threatens mate in one with Bb4, so the Black king has to back up with 40...Ke7, allowing 41 d5 with what looks like a comfortable win. 40...c5 41 Ba5 1‑0 A slightly premature resignation but an example line is 41...Bd7 42 e5+ fxe5 43 fxe5+ Ke6 44 Bxd7+ Kxd7 45 Ke3, when the knight can never escape and what remains is a won king and pawn endgame.

LEADERS AFTER ROUND 5

That left Nikita Vitiugov and Le Quang Liem as the two remaining players on 5/5, with six players on 4½, namely Yu Yangyi, David Navara, Vassily Ivanchuk, Gawain Jones, Kiril Georgiev and Vladislav Tkachiev. More fun tomorrow...

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT...

During the afternoon, between 3pm and about 8pm, the playing area is a serious place of work, as befits a major international tournament, but from 9pm onwards players and spectators can relax and let their hair down. The other night we had the team blitz event, in which players make up adhoc teams of four to play against each other. A lot of fun, though played with some intensity.

Zhao-Xue

On Saturday night the tournament hosted a new event called the ‘Battle of the Sexes’ rapidplay match, held on a single giant-sized board in the restaurant of the Caleta Hotel, with two teams of six – men versus women – taking turns to move, without colluding. Given that it was a new idea, we didn’t know how it would work, but it went down a storm with the watching audience in the room and on the balcony. The two teams, had they been representing one country, would have been good enough to be strong contenders for the gold medals at an Olympiad. The men were Gata Kamsky (USA), Maxime Vacher-Lagrave (France), Le Quang Liem (Vietnam), Kiril Georgiev (Bulgaria), Emil Sutovsky (Israel) and Gawain Jones (England), and the women were Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia), Valentina Gunina (Russia), Zhao Xue (China), Victoria Cmilyte (Lithuania), Jovanka Houska (England) and Tania Sachdev (India).

Battle of the Sexes - Women

Battle of the Sexes - Men

It was designed as a bit of fun and the players entered into the spirit right away. You can see videos and still photos on our website. Most photos you see of Gata Kamsky and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave sitting at the board show them to be poker-faced but here they were clowning around like schoolkids and playing to the crowd, while the women players were being sisterly and giving each other encouragement, and squealing with glee when they beat the men in the second game (you can see the game scores on the website, too).

Maybe soon the more competitive participants of six-a-side chess (shouldn’t it be seven-a-side?) will be dreaming up new types of tactical tricks to bamboozle the opposition. For example, it is important to think whereabouts on the board you want your opponent to have to make their next move, and see whether you can arrange for them to have to walk the longest distance and lift the heaviest piece. Have you seen how big these pieces are? At my time of life I’m not sure I could play the move ‘Qa1x(Q)h8’ without straining my back and getting a little out of breath. Another case of modern chess favouring younger players, dammit.

It is certainly great fun. Grandmaster of ceremonies Stuart Conquest, armed with a microphone and a wicked sense of humour, entered into the spirit with his running commentary, which wasn’t always as even-handed as it might have been. Take the following position...

Battle of the Sexes 2013, Gibraltar

Women - MenBlack to play

The women have just played Qd3. Stuart’s helpful piece of advice to the men’s team: "Guys, your d6 pawn is under attack!" This got a big laugh from the watching audience who, like Stuart, were hoping that they would miss the threat of Qxh7 mate. (Sadly, they didn't.) This was the deciding game of three and, surprisingly in view of what looks like a great position for White, the men won. Boo! But the good news was that the event helped raise £1,000 for charity, and winning captain presented the cheque to Shirley Callaghan, wife of tournament organiser Brian Callaghan.

Round six of the Masters takes place at the Caleta Hotel at 3.00pm on Sunday afternoon.

Every year each tournament brings with it its own surprises. In the Tradewise Gibraltar Festival the social aspects are just as important as the chess tournament itself. The Caleta Staff is friendly and inviting, helping to create a unique atmosphere in every corner of the hotel where all players (and non-players) are always made very welcome. Everywhere one looks chess pieces are being moved, games being analysed or new games being played.

Ana Cramling and Maria Jose Yarur

Grandmasters and players take time out to enjoy the social side of this very friendly festival where there is always something more on offer.

So there is always plenty to keep you occupied during the 10 day tournament where at any time of the day or night there is something going on with chess games being played, the Masterclasses, blitz events, simultaneous displays, and catching up with old and new friends.

Tormund and Odin Blikra Vea from Norway

This week two players playing in the Amateurs and Challengers tournaments Tormund and Odin Blikra Vea from Norway brought out their guitars to the delight of everyone adding a jazzy atmosphere to at the end of the day. As in previous years singer songwriter Maria Jose Yarur from Chile, playing in the Amateurs, presented us with songs from her latest album singing and playing the ukulele. Her artistic name is Juga di Prima and her latest album released in Chile is called ‘Cada isla un tesoro’ (www.jugadiprima.cl).

Gibraltar’s Deputy Chief Minister and Gibtelecom Chairman, Dr Joseph Garcia, visited the Tradewise Chess Festival of the Gibraltar Masters accompanied by the Chief Executive of Gibtelecom Tim Bristow this week. Players were in action in the fourth day of the tournament as they were shown round by director Stuart Conquest. They also sat for a while in the broadcast studio from where the games are analysed by Simon Williams and Irina Krush as from 3pm every day to the world-wide web.
Gibtelecom has supported the chess festival and organisers at the Caleta Hotel from its inception year having jointly led the chess revolution developing online live-streaming in a major way. Today the Tradewise Chess Festival is the most successful tournament online. Last year there were more than a million hits.

Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia who was visiting the tournament for the first time said he had found it all most impressive.

“The amount of publicity Gibraltar has received from the international press and hits on its website as a result is extraordinary. It is not just impressive to see the players making their moves but also the back up of people who make it all possible – all the technicians, engineers, and organising team,” he stated.

As Chairman of Gibtelecom he felt it was fascinating how the technological side had developed over the past 11 years.

“I am proud that a Gibraltar company continues to both lead and help develop this technology further, as well as promoting the tournament, and at the same time put Gibraltar on the map.

“All this is excellent for Gibraltar, it is a wonderful tournament and Gibraltar can be well and truly proud of what the festival has achieved.”

As Deputy Chief Minister, he further commented, the Government would continue to support the festival.

“In many ways it is a worthwhile investment for Gibraltar. What we obtain from it is fantastic and I am sure the Gibraltar Government will support it for many years to come.”

Paying tribute to Brian Callaghan, Dr Garcia stressed, he should be praised and congratulated for having come up with the original idea, taking it forward and making it a success.

Having learnt to play chess with the help of a computer today he is keen that his children also learn how to play the game.

“We have a chess set at home and my son frequently wants to play chess, so we play the odd game. Nowadays, in this electronic age, it is difficult to get children to play chess which is why I feel that the achievements by Stephen Whatley are truly remarkable. In my family we play occasionally, I am a very low level chess player but I would encourage them, and encourage others. It is a game of skill and strategy and forward thinking, very much like politics.”

This year so far the Tradewise Chess Festival has seen two sessions of Masterclasses.

The first was with American IM and WGM Anna Zatonskih who gave an excellent and informative class to a very appreciative audience.

MasterClass Anna Zatonskih

The second was GM Gata Kamsky (USA), one of the biggest names in chess for many years and still only 38. A former FIDE World Championship finalist, he chose to demonstrate a recent game he won against Polish GM Mateusz Bartel. WGM Jovana Vojinovic (Serbia) in her Masterclass showed her first round game from this event.

MasterClass Jovana Vojinovic

Masterclasses are always oversubscribed in the Gibraltar Tradewise Chess Festival and this year has been no exception.

Both sessions are now available to view online on our official website presented by our director Stuart Conquest.

This year has seen a mixture of rain and sun in the tournament so far. But it is fair to say the weather has been kind to us with a little bit of rain on some days and glorious sunshine on others.

This year has seen a mixture of rain and sun in the tournament so far. But it is fair to say the weather has been kind to us with a little bit of rain on some days and glorious sunshine on others.

At the lighthouse

Tournament Director Stuart Conquest took time out to play some chess on the beach at Catalan Bay together with chess players Jovana Vojinovic (Serbia) and Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine). Catalan Bay is the second biggest sandy beach in Gibraltar.

He also introduced Valentina Gunina (Russia) to the stunning views from Europa Point where Europe and Africa meet. Situated in the area is the Lighthouse built in 1841 still the only lighthouse administered by Trinity House outside of the UK. But Europa Point houses not just a Lighthouse but a Mosque and the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe, a building date back to 1309, as well as Hardings Battery built in 1844.

Playing Chess on the beachStuart Conquest, Jovana Vojinovic (Serbia) and Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine)

John Saunders reports: Everyone remembers those classic movies The Magnificent Eight and Eight Samurai, don’t they? And those with a classical education might recall Eight Against Thebes by the Greek tragedian Aeschylus. No? Neither do I. The two films and the Greek play had ‘seven’ (and not ‘eight’) in the title, presumably because seven is some sort of magic number. ‘Eight’ appears to have no magical properties or fictional resonances. I’m not sure why that is – perhaps someone can enlighten me.

When I saw that this year’s Gibraltar Masters had precisely seven 2700+ players in the line-up, I was pleased because it meant I would be able to deploy all manner of analogies on this theme. It was a bit disappointing to hear that an eighth 2700+ man had been added at the last minute. My options were either (a) to bin the planned analogy or (b) doggedly stick to my schtick. Guess which option I chose...

Iván Salgado López

The Magnificent Eight are Ivanchuk, Kamsky, Adams, Wojtaszek, Vachier-Lagrave, Navara, Shirov, Le Quang Liem, perhaps with an honorary ninth member, Nigel Short, as a former world championship runner-up and three-times winner of the Gibraltar Masters. After three rounds, only three of the Magnificent Eight remain on 100%. There are a total of 15 players on 3/3, including two women competitors, and representing twelve countries.

The big story of the third round was Polish super-GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek , ranked fourth in the Gibraltar line-up, being gunned down by former women’s world champion Antoaneta Stefanova. Antoaneta has proved herself to be one of the toughest women contestants who puts in a regular appearance at Gibraltar. One year she came close to overall victory in the tournament, and last year she nearly regained her world title. Her game yesterday was a classic of its type, and I would characterise it as a long squeeze (only in the purely chess sense, I hasten to add). It was a positional game which was underpinned by a recurring tactical trick, which might have accounted for many lesser mortals. Radoslaw coped well enough with the tactics but his various attempts to free his game only made things worse. It is difficult to identify exactly where he went wrong – the sign of very fine play by the opponent.

27...Nd5 Not falling for the gorgeous trap which White set up when playing 25 Nc5. If 27...Qxc5?? 28 Rd7!! and now if Black plays 28...Be7 or 28...f5 to deal with the threat of 29 Qxf7+, White plays 29 Bd4!, winning the queen. 28Bd4 Bg7 29 h4 h5 30 Kg2 Although Black has established his knight on d5, White seems to have a solid positional plus, with better dark square control and tying the black rook to the defence of the a5 pawn, etc. 30...Qc7 31 Qe4 Rd8 32 Rd3 Bh6 33 Rf3 Continuing to squeeze, with the idea of playing Nd6, to attack the f7 pawn, and then Qe1 to win the a-pawn. 33...Ne7 Black decides to jettison a pawn. Perhaps 33...Rf8 34 Qe1 Ra8 35 Nd6 Rf8 was still solid, though White has the alternative of roughing up the kingside with a g3-g4 push. 34Bc3 Rd5 35 Bxa5 Qb8 36 Bc3 Nf5 36...Rxc5? allows 37 Bb4, winning the exchange. 37Nb6 Rd1 White continues to find tactical tricks which indirectly defend her c5 pawn. 37...Rxc5? loses to 38 Nd7, of course. 38Rd3 White has consolidated her material advantage though there could still be a considerable technical exercise involved in winning. 38...Rc1 39 Bd2 It looks as if White could trap the black rook by playing 39 Nc4, etc, but White prefers to liquidate some material. 39...Bxd2 40 Rxd2 Now that Black’s rook has moved off the d-file, he’s in big trouble because the white rook has taken over control of the file and is helping the queen and knight to launch an invasion on Black’s weak kingside dark squares. At this level Black is just plain lost. 40...Kg7 41 Qf4 Rb1

42 Nc4! Antoaneta is no longer interested in defending her pawns as she has calculated through to the end. 42...Rxb3 42...Qe8 43 Qg5 Qe7 was Black’s last chance to challenge the queen invasion, but then 44 Qxe7 Nxe7 45 Rd7 wins a second pawn on b7 and Black’s counterplay is non-existent. 43Qg5 Qf8 44 Qf6+ Kh7 45 Rd7! 45Rd8? Qg7 is not so conclusive, though White can still win eventually. 45...Nh6 46 Nd2 46Nd2 The knight is coming round to g5 to join in the kill: 46...Rb4 47 Nf3 Rb2 48 Ng5+ Kg8 49 Rd8 when the trick 49...Rxf2+!? 50 Kxf2 Ng4+ 51 Ke2 Nxf6 52 Rxf8+ Kxf8 53 exf6 is still hopeless for Black. 1‑0

THERE’LL ALWAYS BE AN ENGLAND

Mickey Adams

England’s three leading competitors in the field, Mickey Adams, Nigel Short and Gawain Jones, were very patriotic. They all played 1 c4 – the English Opening – and all three of them won. Mickey was a tad lucky as his opponent, Estonian grandmaster Meelis Kanep, missed at least one easy chance to wrap up a draw.

Gibraltar Masters 2013, Round 3M.Adams (2725) - M.Kanep (2512)

35...Nxf3? Black surprisingly overlooks a way to close out the game for a draw: 35...Rxf3! 36 exf3 Nc6 37 Qc5 Nxd4 38 Qxd4 Qxc4 eliminates the c4 pawn and assures Black of a relatively simple draw. 36exf3 and, though the position is not much better for White, Mickey eventually ground out a win in 80 moves.

KNOWING ME, KNOWING YU

Yu Yangyi

Yu Yangyi, from China, is only 18 years old and already has a rating of 2688. He is not yet as well known as other top Chinese players such as Wang Hao and Bu Xiangzhi as he has been playing mainly in Asia and in various opens but it is already clear that he is a prodigious talent. Former US women’s champion Anna Zatonskih found him too tough to handle in this brisk encounter.

Gibraltar Masters 2013, Round 3Yu Yangyi (2688) - A.Zatonskih (2491)1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 c5 4 c3 Qb6 5 Nf3 Bd7 6 Bd3 cxd4 The usual intention when Black plays 4...Qb6 is to be able to play 6...Bb5 here. 7Nxd4 7cxd4 is often seen in analogous positions but it is insipid here. The text move is quite useful here, where the e5 pawn is not en prise to a knight on c6. 7...Nc6 8 Nxc6 bxc6 9 0‑0 c5 10 c4 White has a lead in development and is slightly better here. 10...dxc4 11 Be4 Rd8 12 Nd2 Qa6 13 b3! White is playing sharp moves, looking for open lines in order to capitalise on his lead in development. 13...Bb5 If 13...cxb3 14 Qxb3 Bb5 15 Rb1!, White’s attack is gathering momentum. If Black continues with 15...Bxf1 16 Bb7 Qb5 17 Nxf1 Qxb3 18 Bc6+ and White has some compensation for the sacrificed material. 14a4! c3

You’ll remember that I left you with this position to solve, with White to play. Note that Nigel didn’t give any indication as to what result we have to aim for. In real-life chess nobody tells you which result you are playing for the simple reason that it is cheating. Nigel gave the impression of preferring studies to problems because they are more relevant or educational than problems, which tend to be rather artificial.

So the first question is: win or draw? The answer soon dawns that the best White can do is draw. The first instinct is to make a dash to the assistance of the b6 pawn and maybe, on a good day, win the b7 pawn. So White makes five king moves to get to c7. Unfortunately, Black makes five king moves to get to a6, and we’re left with one of those ‘deadly embrace’ positions where the player to move is in zugzwang. Here it is White’s turn: he must move the king and leave the b6 pawn to be taken.

I gave up all thought of winning at this point and correctly realised I was trying for a draw. I started looking at a dash across to, say, b1 or b2, in the hope of allow the black king to take my b6 pawn and getting the opposition for a draw. I hit on the idea of playing Kb2 the move after he had taken on b6, and when he plays Kb5, I play Kb3.

This was my first answer to Nigel and the cause of his glee. “b6!”, he exclaimed and it then struck me that answers based on gaining the opposition would never work because Black could always gain the opposition with this insidious pawn move.

Hmm. Back to the drawing board... except that, with me in charge, it had actually been a losing board so far. Eventually enlightenment dawned. The only way to reach a draw is to start with 1 Kg3! and head for e1 in the first instance, in a face-off with the black king. Ultimately Black’s only try is to head for the b6 pawn but White can pursue him closely and answer ...Kxb6 with Kb4! and he gets the draw.

A deceptively simple study, isn’t it? Nigel thinks it is by Grigoriev.

Round four of the Masters takes place at the Caleta Hotel at 3.00pm on Friday afternoon.

Gibraltar’s Minister for Culture, Youth and Heritage Steven Linares visited the Tradewise Gibraltar Festival on the third day of competition in the Gibraltar Masters and was impressed with what he saw.

“You can feel the buzz,” he told Stuart Conquest and Irina Krush in an interview live from our studio at the Caleta Hotel.

Minister Linares visits the Gibraltar Masters

As he was shown round the main playing areas of the tournament Mr Linares said he felt the atmosphere was amazing with a lot of excitement and a real buzz despite the fact that everywhere was silent.

“Everybody concentrated on their game was impressive. I never thought chess would attract so many people from all over the world or attract so many viewers to your website and broadcast,” he said.

Minister Linares

Minister Steven Linares and Stephen Whatley

“It is tense, but there is a feel of friendship and camaraderie between all the chess players and it is great.”

He was keen to point out that chess was an example to all other sports which should look at how Gibraltar and the organisers of this tournament had succeeded in creating such an international event.

“You have really put Gibraltar not just on the chess map but on the map in general and this is why the Gibraltar Government is so enthused in sponsoring and helping chess because it is an example not just to sporting but also cultural events,” he added.

Stuart Conquest and Minister Steven Linares

The Government, he said, wanted the whole community in Gibraltar to engage in chess so they could understand it and be able to visit the festival.

There was, he added, a lot of enthusiasm in many of Gibraltar’s schools for chess. Many of them have their own chess clubs. Now the Gibraltar Government want to move this forward to make it more mainstream so that it reaches the rest of the community and especially senior citizens.

The interview in full is available on our website - www.gibraltarchesscongress.comThis is the schedule of the live broadcasts accessible from the official website with Simon Williams and Irina Krush

Photos: by Zelka Malobabic

Alice Mascarenhas, Tradewise Press Chess Officer

MASTERS ROUNDS 1/2: 24 JANUARY 2013

FORMER WINNERS STUMBLE IN GIBRALTAR

Stuart Conquest, Anna Zatonskih

John Saunders reports: Early rounds of big opens rarely produce major surprises, as the top half of the draw tends to murder the bottom half in cold blood. But this year’s Gibraltar Masters produced a couple of shocks in the first round as the two highest rated competitors, former Gibraltar winner Vassily Ivanchuk and world championship runner-up Gata Kamsky, were held to surprise draws by amateur players in the first round as the players got down to business at the Caleta Hotel.

In the second round there was a bigger shock as three times Gibraltar winner Nigel Short succumbed to 40-year-old Spanish IM Ismael Teran Alvarez, who is ranked only 72nd in the Masters line-up. Five of the other top seeds, Michael Adams (England), Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Poland), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) and Le Quang Liem (Vietnam), are amongst the 45 players still on a 100% score.

Nigel Short holds the record for the most Gibraltar Masters titles (three) and he had only previously lost two games in the 53 games he has played in his six visits to the tournament, so his defeat came as a big surprise. Nigel refused to make any excuses and admitted he couldn’t explain his poor play in this game.

Vassily Ivanchuk, 43, is through to the last eight of the World Chess Championship qualifier to be held in London in March but in round one he couldn’t make any impression on Hristos Zygouris, an untitled 38-year-old amateur player ranked 90th in Greece. Ivanchuk allowed an early exchange of queens but found he could not make progress against solid play from his opponent, agreeing a draw on move 31. Chucky may have been fractionally worse when the point was split but the Caleta Hotel bar was echoing with the opinion that a certain young man currently playing in the Netherlands would not have agreed a draw before move 231.

Similarly, 38-year-old grandmaster and former world championship runner-up Gata Kamsky from the USA was held to a draw by 23-year-old Andreas Aerni, who is not even rated within the top 100 players in Switzerland. Aerni took a different path to a draw against his distinguished opponent, mixing things up in the opening and then sacrificing a piece to force a draw by perpetual check. The American arrived at the board rather late (fortunately FIDE’s absurd ‘zero tolerance’ rule is not enforced in Gibraltar) and seemed a little out of sorts, but it took some enterprising play by the Swiss player to achieve the draw.

Gibraltar Masters 2013, Round 1A.Aerni (2206) - G.Kamsky (2740)

1 e4 c5 2 c3 Nf6 3 e5 Nd5 4 d4 cxd4 5 Nf3 Nc6 6 cxd4 d6 7 Bc4 Nb6 8 Bb5 Bd7 9 e6!? A plausible move in analogous positions to stymie Black’s centre but not often seen in this particular line. 9...Bxe6 10 Ng5 Possibly a bluff, but quite a good one. 10...Bd5 After 10...Bd7, the move 11 Qf3!? is perhaps a little worrying for Black, though the computer is content to reply 11...f6 12 Bd3!? g6 13 Nxh7 Rxh7 14 Bxg6+ Rf7 and not worry about any tactical complexities. 11Nc3 e6 11...Bxg2 12 Rg1 Bd5 gains time for White in return for a pawn, and now 13 a4 gives White compensation for the two pawns. 120‑0 Be7 12...h6 looks like a decent alternative. 13Qh5 Bxg5 14 Bxg5 Qd7 15 a4 a6 16 a5 White is determined not to let Black’s king get too comfortable on either side of the board. 16...axb5 There doesn’t seem to be anything Black can do to avert the draw now. If 16...Nc4 17 Ba4 Nxb2 18 Nxd5 Nxa4 19 Rfe1 and White is better. 17axb6 0‑0

There were a few other surprise results in round one further down the field, with Swedish grandmaster Pia Cramling losing to Portuguese player Paulo Pinho, and grandmasters Zhao Xue of China and Sebastien Maze of France conceding draws to Johannes Kvisla of Norway and David Jameson of Wales respectively. Apart from the five games mentioned, the leading players took a heavy toll of the amateur competitors.

Gibraltar Masters 2013, Round 1P.Cramling (2518) - P.Pinho (2128)

38 f4 Not a mistake but it necessitates the taking of a couple of major decisions, just before the time control. 38...Bg7 39 h5 39Ng3!? h6 40 Rxd6 hxg5 41 hxg5 looks like a handy way to sacrifice a piece. 39...h6 40 Bh4? 40Rxd6!? hxg5 41 Rxg6 still looks like a possibility but this is that familiar phenomenon - an error on move 40. 40...g5! Now White is on the back foot. 41Be1 Qxh5 42 Rxd6 42Rh1 Qg4+ 43 Kf1 looks very unpleasant and, sure enough, Black’s attack comes crashing through: 43...Rxf4+!, etc. 42...Bh3+! 43 Qxh3 Qxe2+ White’s king and exposed pawns leave her no hope of survival. 44Kh1 Rxe4 45 f5 g4 46 Qg2 Qxe1 47 Rg6 Qh4+ 48 Qh2 Qxh2+ 49 Kxh2 Rf6 0‑1

Vietnamese grandmaster Le Quang Liem caused a sensation a few years ago when he won the prestigious Moscow Aeroflot tournament and Moscow Open in the same year. The following game from round two showcases his remarkable talent.

Nigel Short came into the press room the other day and we happened to be chatting about teaching chess, and endgames in particular. Nigel’s recommendation was to give pupils interesting positions to solve. As an example he gave me the position below and challenged me to solve it. Suddenly I realised I had become, albeit temporarily, Nigel’s pupil. Here’s the position...

White to play

With something of a glint in his eye, Nigel got up to leave the room, saying “I shall be back in five minutes” – with the clear implication that I should have an answer ready for him when he got back. The realisation that a super-GM is putting your chess to the test is a little unnerving. I did my best to avoid the various pitfalls, prepared what I thought was the answer and awaited the teacher’s return. Sure enough, he was back in a few minutes and, with a quizzical expression on his face, wordlessly enquired after the solution. I gave what I thought was the answer. Nigel was visibly delighted – I had, of course, fallen into onto one of the traps in the position. He gave a one-move refutation of my plan, and then went off, and I again inferred that he expected an answer on our next meeting. At the beginning of the second round, whilst taking photos, I bumped into Nigel in the playing hall. Again, the wordless question – had I figured it out? This time my illustrious teacher was satisfied with the answer I gave. Phew...

Now it’s the reader’s turn. White to play - what should happen? I’ll publish the answer in the next report.

BETWEEN A ROCK AND A SNOWY PLACE

One of the joys of coming to Gibraltar is to escape the arctic winter being experienced further north in Europe and elsewhere in the world. I’ve had fun taunting my UK Facebook friends with pictures of people eating outside, beautiful sunrises and the like. But the downside of the severe weather in Europe was that it cost us some competitors because of the flight cancellations in the UK and France. One of casualties was French grandmaster Marie Sebag who had been hoping to play here for the first time but was unable to travel from France.

Valentina Gunina

Another top woman player who we feared might not be able to come was reigning European Women’s Champion Valentina Gunina, who had just had an operation to extract her wisdom teeth and was told she shouldn’t travel. But Valentina was determined to come and both her chess and her health are doing fine here. She’s on 2/2 and is going to have her stitches removed tomorrow.

Round three of the Masters takes place at the Caleta Hotel at 3.00pm on Thursday afternoon.

Gibraltar’s Mayor Tony Lima has paid an official visit to the 2013 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival. Mayor Lima was met by organiser of the festival Brian Callaghan, and tournament director Stuart Conquest.

The Mayor said he was very impressed with the organisation, the large numbers and the quality of the players involved in the tournament.

Admitting he knew very little about the game of chess, he commented: “It has been an eye-opener for me and it is all very impressive. You can see that a lot of people are putting in a lot of effort.”

MAYOR VISIT

He believed the moves being made to further expand chess on the Rock at a local level could only be a good thing for Gibraltar and the festival in the long term.

Mayor Lima met with arbiter Laurent Freyd who together with Mr Conquest showed him round the main hall where the players were already making their moves in the second round of the competition. He also moved downstairs to see the only Gibraltarian participating in the Gibraltar Masters Stephen Whatley in his game and took a few minutes in the broadcast suite to catch up with the analysis of the games by presenters Simon Williams and Irina Krush as well as being show a move or two on an ipad chess board.

Photos: by Zelka Malobabic

Alice Mascarenhas, Tradewise Press Chess Officer

Press Release Tuesday 23 January 2013

GIBRALTAR TOURISM MINISTER NEIL COSTA HOSTS DINNER

FOR GRANDMASTER AT THE TOP OF THE ROCK

Tourism Minister Neil Costa hosted a special dinner at the Mons Calpe Suite at the top of the Rock of Gibraltar on Tuesday evening on the first day of the Gibraltar Masters Tradewise Chess Festival for the visiting Grand Masters and sponsors of the tournament. See dinner speeches below by festival organiser Brian Callghan, Tourism Minister Neil Costa, and GM Nigel Short.

INTRODUCTION: Brian Callaghan, organiser of the tournament welcomed everyone and thanked the sponsors and Government for their support.

He said: “I would like to say thanks to the John Gaggero family for allowing us here tonight. It is their generosity in part that has made this possible. It also gives me great pleasure to add to our distinguished chess guests our Minister of Tourism, Neil Costa. Chess was mentioned in the election manifesto of this government, no less than three times, and I think we can say that this dinner is a demonstration of that commitment and how this government wants to welcome first class chess players, and indeed any chess players to come to Gibraltar. I am absolutely delighted to be able to say that Stuart Conquest is taking up the role of Community Chess Professional on the Rock, tasked with developing chess into the community with junior chess. That decision was made possible by our sponsors Gibtelecom and the Government of Gibraltar.”

MINISTER’S SPEECH AT THE DINNER: Tourism Minister Neil Costa

MINISTER NEIL COSTA SPEECH AT DINNER

He said: “Let me thank you and welcome you to the Tradewise Chess Festival of 2013. It is my pleasure to be representing the Government of Gibraltar here tonight. Brian Callaghan rightly said that we mentioned the chess festival in our election manifesto for a very good reason. I believe that we always ought to start as we mean to go on and we based the events lead tourism of our Government on the very successful chess festival. It is clear to us as it has been clear to many governments around the world that what attracts people to a particular destination, in addition to whatever inherent beauty and splendour it may have, and there is no doubt that Gibraltar has that magnificent splendour and tonight we stand in a beautiful and stunning location where we have to continents, three countries, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Strait of Gibraltar, and the magnificence of the Rock. But apart from any natural beauty a place may have, you also have an event. Certainly events lead tourism is now accepted by countries around the world as one of the centre pieces to attract tourists. The fact, that today we have and there will be during the course of the chess festival, high or full occupancy of hotels as a result of the festival, is a testament to the success of any country that wishes to promote its tourism product by way of events lead tourism.

The Rock is legendary and in modern times I feel it is fair to say that Gibraltar is increasingly known for its hospitality. We hope you will agree with us that the Gibraltarians are a warm welcoming people, and the fact that Stuart Conquest has decided to stay with us, shows the kind of place that we are and we welcome him with open arms.

Emil Sutovsky, Gata Kamsky

Part of the promotion of Gibraltar today is not just as a tourism destination but as a place that people should want to come and relocate to. Perhaps we should have called a part of the brochure which promotes Gibraltar as a place to stay as “Make Your Move” given this is a chess destination.

The Gibraltar Tourist Board is working hard not just to increase air connectivity from London and different parts of the UK to Gibraltar but also to have new European destinations and direct links. The better connected we are from different parts of Europe the easier it will be for people to come to Gibraltar. The easier it is the more people will come. It is not just about the tourism industry I feel increased air connectivity will be critical in the growth of our economy.
We have started with the chess festival and the fact that the Gibraltar Government has heavily invested in events lead tourism. Last year we had the first International Jazz Festival, the First Strongman competition which led to increased hotel occupancy. In October this year we will have the first Gibraltar International Literary Festival which will undoubtedly attract a class of people to Gibraltar which will hopefully start to compete with the wonderful success of the chess festival. We will continue the development of this policy.

Players at the tournament

In addition we believe that online transmission of events and of Gibraltar is key and critical. We are working with Gibtelecom on the development of WIFI hot spots all around Gibraltar and in particular at our tourism spots.

All this is part and parcel of not just trying to make tourism an important pillar but as far as I am concerned, my own particular mission, is to make it the main engine of economic growth because as keen as we are to promote all the critical parts of the Finance Centre industry we also need to appreciate that Gibraltar’s beauty and magnificence is its only natural resource and we need to capitalise on it in a sensitive manner.

GM Nigel Short, winner of the 10th edition of the festival and of last year’s Diamond Jubilee prize, responded on behalf of the players.

Nigel Short responds

He said: “It is great to be back here in Gibraltar, it is a tournament which is growing from strength to strength and people keep coming back not only because of the magnificent prize money. We come back because we feel very welcomed here. That is the best part of it and that there is a feeling of warmth and as chess players we feel respected.”

Alice Mascarenhas, Tradewise Press Chess Officer

TRADEWISE PRESS RELEASE TUES 22 JAN

FIRST MOVE 2013 James Humphreys and GM Ivanchuk

The First Move of the 2013 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival Gibraltar Masters tournament took place this afternoon at the Caleta Hotel. At precisely 3pm (Gibraltar time) James Humpreys head of Tradewise Gibraltar Insurance Ltd, main sponsor of this event, made the first move on the top board with top seeded player at this year’s tournament and previous winner in Gibraltar GM Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) playing against Hristos Zygouris (Greece).

Anna Muzychuk

Moments later the 245 chess players from some 60 countries then made their opening moves in the tournament which is being held over the next 10 days. The top woman player this year is Anna Muzychuk (Slovina).

There are 48 Grandmasters and 36 International Masters. 29 FIDE Masters and 4 women Grandmasters.

Live streaming with commentary is available every afternoon with commentator GM Simon Williams and GM Irina Krush. Once again the tournament boasts the latest technology installed by Gibtelecom a great supporter of the festival in its 11 year history.

Last night the Opening Ceremony of the 2013 Gibraltar Tradewise Chess Festival proved a great success with Sport, Culture and Heritage Minister Steven Linares welcoming all the players to Gibraltar commenting on how the festival now in its eleventh edition had put Gibraltar firmly on the "chess map". It's all happening at the Caleta Hotel with some 60 nations represented at the 2013 tournament. Helping tournament Director Stuart Conquest with the draw of top pairings for the first round last night was Miss Gibraltar Jessica Baldachino (see photos. There are more on our website).

WHITE KING FOR IVANCHUK

Take note that the Gibraltar Masters starts at 3pm (Gibraltar time) and remember we will be going live from our studio with Simon Williams and Irina Krush (Reigning women's USA Champion). There are 245 chess players in the Gibraltar Masters this year with around 350 playing in all three tournaments. 60 Countries are being represented this year.